Another You
by Jackson the Griffin-Breeder
Summary: When Prof. John Smith looses his secretary to maternity leave, the temp agency sends up one Ms. Donna Noble. Non-plot related crossover with SGA (like, squint-and-you-miss-crossover), because my headcannon basically demands that Rose get hired over there. In my head this plays out as romance, but for now we're keeping it casual.
1. Chapter 1

So this is me, needing to spill my headcannon on the extra 10 from JE, of course. I have like 8 (including a happy Ten/Rose household) but this one just needs to be out because it's a slight crossover and it makes me happy. Also because Donna. Always Donna.

Basically, the point of this is that I am not consistently comfortable with him and Rose "riding off into the sunset" because, at the end of the day, he's not the Doctor, and I don't think that it would be all that healthy for them both to continue in that vein because they both want him to be the Doctor so badly. Other versions of this story include: there is a random Doctor existing in this universe also, who never regenerated into Ten, and is still as messed up as Nine was at the beginning but worse (obviously Rose was a huge help then and I feel like this extra Ten would grin like an idiot if she could help him out in yet another universe), and one where they, after splitting, end up slowly falling in love with each other as themselves. This is the Ten/Donna version, because that's what I felt like writing first. I may eventually write the others but if y'all have ever read my stuff before you know that I should just not promise things. On a related note, if you are reading my NCIS LA/Stargate crossover, I'd like to mention that my computer died and I lost all the work I had done on the next chapter. So basically I need to start over, and the stuff I had done was tricky and was done on one of those 3 days a year (or so) that I do crazy great work really fast. In other words, hopefully I'll get to it eventually.

Moving on!

* * *

"Alright, John, the temp will be here at noon. We're going to go to lunch so I can give her a quick tour, and then we will go over the office when we get back. Here's the file the agency sent over. Take a look, she seems really great. I'm sure you'll get along great without me," Mildred Moore, secretary to Professor John Smith, told her aforementioned boss. Her maternity top was just large enough to cover the extent of her belly, and she stood with one hand supporting her back and the other handing him a manila envelope. An envelope that presumably contained the next few months of his working life. He_ liked_ Millie. She understood his complicated filing system, even if she did call it "the piles". She always knew where things were and could always talk over him when he forgot decorum and just said what he meant to the students and staff that entered his office. She even made cookies sometimes! Not that he needed the sugar. Rose would be mad if he told her how much sugar he had consumed in the two weeks she had been overseas "working with the American government on behalf of the British nation and of Torchwood". He was pretty sure that was code for "Under NORAD", which was code for the Stargate program. But he wasn't telling anyone, and it wasn't a permanent position yet. And, to be honest, he was kind of hoping she came home soon because he missed her and he was not good with phone communication yet. But who knows, maybe he could get better. And he needed to think about _her_, and about _her_ skill set and _her_ future and stop being so selfish. She said she liked it there, so far anyhow. And now Millie was giving him a look because he still hadn't taken the file and she was balancing precariously on some unnecessarily high heels. Oh.

He took the file and looked up at her, puppy-dog eyes trained to melt anyone into doing anything. She smiled and shook her head. "I'm just going on maternity leave, silly. I'll be back soon and you will be fine."

Apparently the puppy-dog look didn't do anything to pregnant secretaries.

"I'm sure Ms. Noble is a capable secretary and will understand your….filing system," she said, air quotes and eyebrow raising included.

Wait. Noble? As in…_Noble_? Donna Noble? He opened the file a bit in shock and mentally calculated the commonness of a surname like Noble.

Well then. Nevermind the calculations. Donna Noble was his new temp. Donna Noble, right there in the manila envelope. There was even a picture. It was Donna alright.

"Donna Noble?!" he exclaimed, a bit too forcefully.

"Oh, do you know her?"

"What? No. No, I don't, why would you think that? I just think it's a great…great name. Donna means "lady", her name literally means "noblewoman". Great name," he trailed off, hoping that was a good enough excuse to have been so surprised. He didn't really know her, not this Donna. Well, this was going to be a challenge. He was going to have to treat her like he'd never met her before…and remember what she knew and didn't know. It was almost enough to call the agency and request a new temp. But it was _Donna_! _His_ Donna! No, not his Donna, a Donna from a different universe altogether! Something deep in him just needed to know what she was like here. He wanted to meet her, despite the challenge. Maybe because of it.

Millie was giving him that look—the one she gave him when he said something socially inappropriate. Had he been speaking out loud? No, he was sure he'd been thinking. What was the last thing he had said? Oh, that bit about her name. What was wrong with that?  
"Don't tell her that when she comes in, ok? I mean, it's interesting, but…it could come off a bit stalker-ish. John, are you paying attention?"

"Yes! Of course I am. Right, don't tell her she has a great name. Ok. Anything else I shouldn't do? How do you expect me to deal with social situations when you aren't here to tell me what to do?" he whined.

"Oh for goodness sakes, you'll be fine! Now, did you want to help me give her the tour or what?"

His forehead crinkled as he considered Millie giving a tour in her heels. Even at her normal weight, he thought that would be difficult. "Millie, why don't you stay here and I'll give her a tour? You couldn't possibly walk all over campus with those shoes on. And, no offense, but I don't think you could anyway."

"I'm not going to. She's coming up here and then I'm walking her down to the cafeteria and pointing out the important bits on the way down. You can give her the full tour later if you want, but I'm just telling her what she needs to know come Monday. So, are you going to come eat with us, or not?"

He smiled. "Oh, certainly! I'd like that."

When Donna walked in an hour later, he realized he'd completely forgot to prepare himself to meet someone he already knew.


	2. Chapter 2

Here, have a new chapter. Sorry it's a bit introductory, again. This story is coming out a bit slow.

* * *

There was a soft, but efficient knock on the door, and Millie looked up to see a rather professional-looking ginger with a nervous smile. "Oh, hello," Millie said, putting on a smile. "You must be Ms. Noble. I'm Mildred Moore, but you may as well start calling me Millie, as everyone else does."

Donna suddenly felt much better about this meeting. She didn't normally go in to a job the week before unless it was a difficult situation, so she had been afraid this professor was one of those pompous terrors she had heard of. She couldn't imagine that the over-important man she was imagining would have a secretary that went by her first name, however. Generally the stuck-up ones observed professional practices as if they were law.

Just to be sure, though—"So, how's your boss to work with? Alright?" She just hoped she came off as a bit gossipy instead of nervous. The temp agency had a reputation for gossip anyhow.

Millie hesitated. This woman seemed nice enough, but John was a bit of a challenge for most people who spent their lives organizing. She hoped she wouldn't turn tail and run. "He's nice, certainly, but…" she looked around the room, searching for the words to describe her boss. Donna tried to keep her face neutral while this went on. "He's…well, he's a bit absent-minded professor, to be honest. Good, and sweet, but can't keep track of his own shoes. Organizes in piles, and if you try to move them or change them he starts to shout and ends up pacing the hallway muttering about important papers and being behind for years on paperwork. I'll admit it's frusterating." Then, almost as an afterthought, "He really is sweet, though. And very appreciative. I do like this job."

Donna nodded. "Sounds like a challenge, and I do love a good challenge."

Millie could already tell that her replacement would be more than a match for her stubborn boss. "Alright then, let me get him and we'll walk down to the cafeteria. I'll give you the short version of the tour."

As Millie hobbled back to the door to John's office, she crossed her fingers, hoping that he hadn't completely forgotten and gotten himself caught up in something. "John," she called through the doorway. "Come on, then. Let's go." She poked her head around the door. John was, of course, completely in his own world, reading what was probably some poor freshman's lab report and pulling his hair absently. "What is he thinking? That's completely wrong, what is it with this class?" and such things were quietly falling out of his mouth in a surprisingly exclamatory pattern. She sighed.

"John!"

He didn't even look up. "Not now Millie, I'm grading this idiot's paper. Honestly, how did he even get into university? I know this is an entry level class, but it's to be expected that the students be able to add and subtract, right? For god's sake!"

"John, it's lunch time. You need to come eat."

He looked up then. "I can't eat now, I've got things to do. I'll eat later."

But a look crossed her face, a hardened look that comes only from being a mother or being a teacher, and he knew he was going to have to do whatever she ordered next. "John Smith, you promised to come eat lunch with me and Ms. Noble today so you could meet her. Just because you don't want me to go on my leave doesn't mean you can be rude to her and break your promises. If you don't get up right this moment and take a lunch break I will personally order the cafeteria not to sell you anything with sugar in it for the entirety of my leave, do you understand what I'm telling you?"

Her speak was delivered with a surprising calm, somewhere between accepted authority and resigned panic. She was completely prepared to dole out the punishment she'd stated. This was not a bluff.

He stood up. "Let me put this in the drawer, is that ok? Will you let me put my work away?"

She nodded and crossed her arms. "Hurry up. Ms. Noble is waiting and no doubt is very hungry. And you'd better by nice to her when I'm gone!"

He nodded while he opened drawers looking for an empty space to hide the lab report. At this point he remembered that he was going to have to talk to Donna, and interact with her, not just speculate about it, and he swallowed hard. Well, time to go then. _You can do it, John, _he thought to himself. _You've faced weirder situations. Just remember that you are only just meeting her now. _

He straightened his hair with the air of a 5 year old boy going into church and took the few steps around the doorway into the reception room. And there, standing in the far side of Millie's immaculate desk, stood Donna Noble. And oh, it was definitely Donna_. Oi! Knock that stupid grin off your face, idiot! Let her introduce herself!_

"Hi, I'm Donna Noble, nice to meet you. I'll be your temp for the next few weeks."

She had a right brilliant smile. He smiled back, "Oh, I'm John, John Smith. Doctor John Smith. I teach Physics. Good to meet you, too!"

And he took her hand to shake it, as was expected, but it seemed such a familiar, comforting action. The urge to pull her along on adventures, or at least to the cafeteria, was overwhelming, and the knowledge that she didn't know him at all cut in painfully.

_Well, this was certainly going to be a challenge_, both of them thought, simultaneously, and for completely different reasons.


End file.
